Loving Mountain View!

Commissary!!!

SMS and I continue to have an awesome time in Mountain View. Work is going well and I was glad to get the first week under my belt.  Also, we found Moffett Field and its still functioning commissary last weekend.  Yeah!  How lucky is it to find a tax-free place for grocery shopping in NorCal?!

Hanger 1 with its outer covering removed, a former Naval Airship hanger

Friday night, I worked out at a nearby Pilates studio. I'm so happy to be doing Pilates again! Afterwards, we went to the Computer Science History Museum for a Friday night food truck and music event. We were there for the last hour so the music was done, but the food trucks were in full-force. There weren't a ton of healthy options (excuses!) and I picked the simultaneously amazing/terrible waffle chicken sandwich with a fried egg and bacon, accented by maple syrup. It was SO DELICIOUS!!!  

Shoreline Park

 Saturday morning, SMS and I headed to Shoreline Park where we walked along the trails circling the lake and bay.  We want to rent a tandem bike some weekend and picnic, but it requires slightly more planning than we had done that weekend.  It was really beautiful and I can't wait to go back.  We also walked along the outside of the historic Rengstorff home.  It's a house formerly owned by a big shipping magnate in the region, although it was moved to its current location several decades ago and fell into disrepair before being restored.  Now, it's a popular wedding site.

A study for the Burghers of Calais, a group of six leaders of Calais who volunteered to surrender
to King Edward III after a long siege.  Although they were to be executed, the were saved by
the intervention of Queen Phillipa.

Aesculapius

After Shoreline, we went over to Stanford. We headed to the Cantor Arts Center and wandered in the Rodin Sculpture garden. It was really awesome.  My favorite Rodin museum is the one in Philadelphia but this one was also impressive.  It has one of the five casts of the Gates of Hell in existence, which is a masterpiece which recapitulates a lot of Rodin's themes and earlier sculptures within it.

We also went up the Stanford clock tower for the view. There was a moderate wait and a nominal $3 charge.  It was a great day- very clear and we could see all  the way to San Francisco.  Although we felt a bit rushed, it was a great sight and maybe we'll go back on a weekday.

Finally, we went to Philz Coffee where we tried a delicious iced coffee mojito.  I know, it sounds so weird but picture a mint mocha (delicious, right?), minus the mocha.  Despite taking away the chocolate, it somehow works and is so tasty and refreshing.  We walked to Trader Joe's and along the way, found a road sign to Opportunity Center.  Here's to that search!

That night, we had a nice BBQ with several friends from our apartment complex.  There was a great assortment of food and I got compliments on my cooking, which I'm always a sucker for!  I also ended up grilling the fish since the guy who brought it was not sure how to grill it and had put it on the grill as a whole fish but not wrapped in foil. I quickly filleted it while it was on the grill and it turned out beautifully and was so tasty. I hope Summer BBQs become a thing because there are really a great group of people here and so different from the medical types I'm so often (happily) surrounded by!